Tomorrow I fly out to Barcelona, a city that’s on my bucket list.
Excited doesn’t even begin to sum it up.
The whole Small Town Threads family is going, and after a fortnight in the city, we then have a further 2 weeks up coast.
Yep, you read that right: FOUR weeks in Spain!!
So how is it that we can go on ‘holiday’ for a whole month?
Well… we are fortunate in that Mr T works from home, and in theory, as long as he has access to good wi-fi, he can work from anywhere.
So, the first 2 weeks are as normal – as they would be here, in that Mr T will be working and I will have the boys.
Fortunately, Mr T has a 4 day weekend in the middle of the fortnight (bank holiday weekend); and then after those working 2 weeks are finished, he’ll officially be on holiday with us though he may have to do an afternoon of work here or there to make up a couple days of worth.
This is a dream come true for me.
Before we moved to our Small Town, and before our youngest, Little Moon was born, we had toyed with moving to Barcelona, permanently. However, after considerable research, we obviously *didn’t* move there: given the glorious springs and summers we’ve had over the past 6 years, I do sometimes doubt our decision!
So, next up: we toyed with the idea of an extended working holiday – month away.
However, 6 years ago, the whole ‘working from home’ thing was new and there was always the worry of being called into meetings in London and various other “what if’s” until 2 years passed and Little Moon arrived in our family.
Our youngest has been a welcome, long anticipated member of our family; however, to say he was (& still is) a tricky customer would be an understatement!
Perhaps I’ll talk about his Hyper-sensitivity / sensory processing issues with you at some point down the line – but as he’s now 4 years old, we are hoping he’s ready to enjoy this trip with us even he is still a little tricky. (Read that as *very tricky*!!)
Ok, so this image which I’ve lifted from Google has no doubt been filtered to the nth degree, but look at it: I can’t wait!!
There is no special reason, or particular memory or person that I can think of which has made me want to visit Barcelona – its just somewhere I’ve always want to visit. And now its nearly upon me, I feel slightly sick with excitement, nervous (of being responsible for 2 young children in a big, hot, humid city), and the worst bit? I haven’t packed yet!
Anyone who knows me would tell you that’s absurd!
Normally, I’m packed with a week to go…
However, I suffer greatly from the very real ‘packing for trips away’ anxiety syndrome: it really gets me down and causes me a great deal of stress.
So, for this trip, wisely or unwisely, I haven’t packed at all yet.
I have a large case, open on my bedroom floor which I have been gathering a few bit in, such as toiletries, hammam towels, swimming stuff etc and its stilling there, an ever growing mountain I’ve been adding to.
Clothes wise though – nothing.
And I have to say, staying list-free (and I mean the ridiculous, meticulous OCD lists & sub-lists and then more lists) and not packing a single item properly has been a liberating experience: Its been a lot calmer and all working out pretty ok.
I must mention our puppy at this point – beautiful Sylvie: what’s to become of her?
Well, we knew we had this trip planned when we bought her back in February, and indeed it was a consideration before we made our decision to buy her: we asked around and sorted out a house & dog sitter before we bought her. My in-laws are staying here for 3 weeks (& my mother in law is a like a dog whisperer, seriously!) and then my sister and her family are staying here for the final week.
So Sylvie will be much loved and pampered and looked after super well.
We however are going to miss her terribly!
Anyway, back to clothing… what am I taking?
ALOT.
Its tricky not to, given we’ll be city living for a fortnight.
The plan is, to take the boys out early each morning to parks (we’re taking their scooters!) or the beach, but to be back at our Airbnb apartment for a siesta.
Now, at nearly 8 and 4 years old, neither of them has taken an after lunch nap for years… but I’m hoping that I can get them into the rhythm of it out in Spain. This will then give us some lovely late family evenings out and about, and of course on Mr T’s day’s off we will do some fun family trips and the boys may even visit the football stadium which will perhaps free me up for a spot f shopping…
And so… there comes the inevitable clothing issue: we’ll no doubt go through at least 2 outfits each a day during our 2 week city-stay: getting super hot and sweaty in the mornings and then cleaning up post siesta… andwhilst our apartment is fully equipped I don’t plan on doing the laundry! We’ve agreed that as a treat, I’m going to seek out a laundry service for the entire month if possible. Whoop!
So, when I say I’m taking a lot, I suppose what I mean is – probably a full 2 weeks worth of day / evening outfits on rotation.
But what exactly to pack?
I’ve mentioned in previous posts that I’m not a fan of ‘high-summer’ shopping, simply because we haven’t been on regular holidays in years and our own British Summers over the past few years have been so dire, there simply hasn’t been any point.
So my holiday wardrobe is pretty ‘threadbare’.
Or so I thought.
I’ve unpacked some vac-pack bags which I haven’t dipped into in years and unearthed a few gems, including a couple of 10+ year old faithful Ghost slip dresses which really do stand the text of time: they are brilliant for just throwing on and look great dressed up or down. They are similar to this:
My 2 slip dresses are plain black and then theres a red one too.
However, I have had them for over 10 years, and although they are brilliant and I will be taking them; I am a little bored and wanted something more colourful – print perhaps?
I managed to get a hold of a couple of bargains in the recent sales (mentioned in my previous post), but I also got my mitts on this Cecilie Copenhagen inspired playsuit: it’s a Topshop Scarf Print Playsuit, down to £15:
I think this will be perfect for walking around the city parks with the boys and beach morning.
I also picked up this rather lairy, Hawaiian print 5preview Marietta dress which was reduced from £108 down to £32:
Now, I spotted this dress a while back on The Mercantile London‘s website but I was never going to buy it for £108, it was too much for me; I kept an eye on it and it was reduced to £75, and I very nearly did buy it at that point because I could see the various sizes selling out.
Then, finally, as I dithered… I had a look at (close to midnight) last Friday and there it was – size XS still in stock and down to £32! #win!!
Of course I ordered it!
I’ve then been stressing about it not arriving on time as there was only one delivery option / no express delivery.. but I’m pleased to tell you, it arrived yesterday and its a great fit and has definitely made it into the suitcase!
Another recent purchase is this Topshop Camo Floral Print Shirt Dress:
I wore it with black sandals earlier this week when it was scorchio and its loose cut and open shoulders kept me pretty cool; however, I felt the black sandals looked a little heavy with it and would have preferred white slides… perhaps I’ll pick something up in Spain.
After Barcelona, we will be travelling an hour up the coast to Tossa de Mar, and staying in a beachside hotel:
This will be a true holiday for me as I won’t be doing any cooking *at all* – yay!
And at this point, I will no doubt be cursing the fact that I took too many clothes as I will be in a cossie /kaftan all week – I have to admit, post 2 children and 2 c-sections, I just don’t really feel happy in a 2 piece bikini anymore, though I’m not totally adverse to the idea.
And finally, we’ll travel another hour up the coast to another gorgeous little bay called Llafranc.
However, this final week will mean leaving all glamour behind as we are staying a rather basic bungalow on a campsite.
Oh yeah, all the glamour for me!
However, this is the week which I think the boys will love best: there will be two pools, one complete with inflatable slides and there’s a kids activity club every evening between 4-8pm which they can dip in and out of and no doubt, given its popularity with families from all over Europe… this will be the week they’ll make some little buddies to hang out with.
What about this blog?
Well, as you can imagine, it’s going to be a little all over the place over the coming month although I do hope to continue… Mr T will have his laptop with him which I may have to surgically remove from him, but I will endeavour to put up at least two posts over the month…
So please join me as Small Town Threads goes on it’s Spanish adventure over the next few weeks, either here, or over on my SmallTownThreads Instagram page.
Would love to hear your top tips for Barcelona, Tossa de Mar or Llafranc if you have any?
Thanks for reading, and adiós for now!
Bean Xx
